Levenge

A Room with a View

The group consulted with the eladrin leader Velfarren, who’s priority seemed to be finding his (and sister Velastra’s) father. Velfarren believed he had taken residence in one of the towers in the Abbey grounds, but discounted the possibility of it being the watch tower at the end of the wall. His own expert in the arcane had failed to penetrate that structure.

Nevertheless, Velfarren accompanied the party to the watchtower, where Badden promptly found a recently abandoned campsite, and evidence of 5 or 6 campers. This seemed to unsettle Velfarren somewhat, as his followers had detected no prowlers. The group investigated the tower, and Knarillas began to form the conclusion that the structure was masked with some sort of “psychic echo”, making it seem as if the tower was as it was before whatever calamity befell the abbey. Kade drew his card, which reacted by vibrating slightly, and Velfarren noted that he too had a similar card in his possession. Meanwhile Knarillas launched a spell at the tower, which reacted by bleeding horrid, motile black sludge. The half a dozen thick gooey blobs attacked the party, and were eventually destroyed. Kade found that by touching the card to the tower door, he could create a portal to the interior. Instantly, the chaotic sounds of combat drifted out of the gap, and the party formed up to enter with intent.

What they saw on the other side was horrific – within a round chamber somehow twisted by vile magic into a fleshy mockery of a tower, a group of adventurers engaged in combat with numerous quivering black blobs, one giant specimen of which emerged from a trench dividing the room in two. The strangers called for help with the blobs, even as one of their number fell to some other morphic beast. To confound the group further, it was not their card which manifested upon the floor of the chamber, but that of Velfarren.

One of the strangers was an elf, but unlike any the heroes had seen before. Black of skin and white of hair, the elf’s very presence seemed to cause Kade to fly into a rage. As the fight progressed it appeared that more of the blobs were spawning from the pit, and those that had been destroyed floated slowly towards a portal at the opposite side of the room and disappeared through it. While the walls grabbed those standing adjacent to them, the very stuff of the floor seemed to undulate obscenely, drawing victims toward the pit.

It became apparent that the strangers were making for the portal, abandoning the party to the monsters. One by one they fought to the portal and hurled themselves through. There seemed no end to the spawning of the black morass from the pit – leaving the heroes no option but to follow.

On the other side was an evershifting distorted stairwell – at times the heroes could glimpse the way forward, at other times they were completely befuddled. To make things worse, they could feel the chaos beginning to twist their very flesh. Ultimately, they won through to the upper level of the tower, only to be confronted by a massive spherical monstrosity sporting a dozen or so eyes mounted upon writhing tentacles. Knarillas’ attempts to reason with the creature, by offering an alliance to break free of the tower, resulted in the maniacal creature’s scorn. Twisted humanoid suits of armour lurched forward to attack, and the very fabric of the tower heaved upwards in places. Strange areas appeared and disappeared at random, allowing enemies to close in melee even while on opposite sides of the chamber, The creature’s eyes wove a deadly matrix of rays, and the fight was long and hard. Saint Belardan’s magic eventually wore down the humanoid enemies, while Kade, Captain Oakley and Velfarren bravely struck blow upon blow on the eye tyrant, which now seemed able to teleport about the place at will. Badden’s thorn whip cracked repeatedly, and chaos bolts belched forth repeatedly from Knarillas’ staff.

When the creature was eventually bested, the tower returned instantly to its normal ruined state. Natural light filtered through the windows, and where they creature fell a magical pouch was revealed, containing three more cards from the Deck – Key, Moon and Ruin. Velfarren had found his father; his body lay with the other defiled creatures imprisoned in armour. In grief, he thanked the party for freeing his father from his curse. He tendered his card, Euryale, to the group, having no use for it himself.

From here the party can see far across the flat lands beyond the Abbey. Knarillas believes that sight from this watchtower is enhanced magically.